japanese
#784 – Ojin Romanus
Born in 181 AD in Osaka, Ojin was a Samurai sent on an intelligence gathering mission to Rome who decided to stay and join the Roman legion in the fight against the rising Vampire and Zombie menace in Dacia.
RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born in 181 AD in Osaka, Ojin was a Samurai sent on an intelligence gathering mission to Rome who decided to stay and join the Roman legion in the fight against the rising Vampire and Zombie menace in Dacia.
Born in 2145 AD on the red planet Mars, Rathien is a hot-tempered, relentless enforcer for cloned Hannibal Barca’s rebellion in Neo-Carthage. Freed from hard space labour, he hides from facial recognition drones while executing sabotage and assassinations against the corrupt governor Mordax Mazar and his cronies. Known for his mercenary tactics and short temper, Rathien’s methods frequently cause problems, but his loyalty and determination make him an indispensable, albeit troublesome, asset to the cause.
Born 345 AD in Nemausus, Equus was originally the stablemaster on a grand estate, enslaved from a young age. His life changed when Erana Veranix, the estate’s mistress, freed him after a Vandal invasion that cost them both their sight. Together in holy matrimony, they established the Institute for the Blind and Animal Rehabilitation, where Equus’s deep bond with animals and enduring spirit play a pivotal role in the sanctuary’s mission.
Born 205 BC in Drepana, Siro was a shepherd who chased one of his flock into a temple on Mount Eryx and was sucked into an interdimensional portal to a distant time and place where he was pressed into the service of a galactic alien army.
Born 89 AD in Rome, Oppius was a member of the Punktorian Guard sent through an interdimensional portal on a reconnaissance mission by Emperor Hadrian; however, Oppius preferred the alternate 28th century AD reality and never attempted to return.
Born in 168 BC in Myra, Cagla is a brainwashed soldier subservient to the alien and cyborg invaders who established a secret foothold in Lycia during they heyday of the Roman Republic.
Born 266 AD in Trento, Uto was part of the mysterious Cthulu Cohort that, disappeared in a cave and returned as cybernetic drones puppeteered by an extradimensional alien force loyal to Emperor Diocletian.
Born 2001 AD in Transylvania, Morty lives in an ancient castle and spends all his time immersed in the metaverse, not knowing there is a working interdimensional time portal in an oubliette between the walls.
Born 129 BC in Sinope, Laodice is the sister of Mithridates the Great. To avoid being forced to marry her brother, she fled to an alternate dimension where she conspired with the Roman general Pompey to defeat and exact revenge on Mithridates.
Born in 2169 AD in Syracusae, Zino was a logistics officer in Rome’s hellacious campaign against the Dacian vampire scourge. Now a pencil-necked attorney and accountant for the profligate Governor Mazar, Zino finds himself torn between helping his old comrades uncover the grisly murder of a cyborg pleasurebot and maintaining his precarious position in the baroque society of Neo-Carthage. The stakes are even higher as suspicions point towards his employer, forcing Zino to navigate a perilous path where loyalty and self-preservation are constantly at odds.
Born 88 BC in Philippopolis, Rhys was a slave who joined forces with Spartacus during the Third Servile War, but fled through an interdimensional portal at the Temple of Hera in Paestum to the 1980s AD where he became a roadie for the thrash metal band, Pontifex Maximus.
Born 114 BC in Yeha, Betty joined Spartacus in the Third Servile War in search of her younger brother, Mussa. Upon defeat by the Romans, rather than face crucifixion, Betty was sent by Crassus to fight as a gladiator in a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born in 51 AD in Virunum, Acca, the daughter of a Roman general and a servant woman, was raised in the Second Legion and became a fiercely loyal soldier for the Flavian Emperors. It is said that Acca died attempting to prevent the assassination of Domitian.
Born 145 BC in Sinope, Zoi and her brother Pythodoris were servants of Pluto, God of the Underworld, who fought for Mithridates the Great, were slain by the Romans and sent to purgatory where they are forced to fight an endless battle against impossible odds.
Born 2175 AD in Xi’xi’an, Mei is a renowned actress known for her ethereal beauty and roles that bridge the gap between the old world and a dystopian future. Her breakout role was The Red Citadel, a retrofuturistic thriller where she portrays a noblewoman framed for corruption in a cyberpunk empire. She followed this with Ironflower, an action epic where she plays a rebel leader using ancient martial arts to battle cyborg invaders. Now a beloved figure in global revolutionary movements, Mei keeps pushing boundaries, using her films to take bold shots at the Empire and challenge the powers that be.
